The Indian textile industry is on the roll. All the major indicators of performance such as installed capacity, production, consumption and so-on have shown promising trend during the decade, 1994-2004. These trends are observed amidst reports that the industry's fortunes are in the upswing. The installed number of cotton and man-made fibre textile mills increased from 1175 in 1994 to 1787 by the year 2004 registering an increase of around 52 percent. The growth has been mainly due to the increased set up of spinning mills which was 909 during 1994 increased to 1564 in 2004 as the installed spindleage increased from 28.6 million to reach around 34 million during the same period registering an addition of 5.42 lakh spindles. Besides, there has been an increase in rotors too, which was around 3.83 lakh in the year 2004. Besides there are small scale spinning units many of them are set up in and around Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu as the total number of such mills were 1135 with an installed capacity of 3.01 mn spindles and 98717 rotors as on 2004. The number of mills lying closed was 1787 units, which include composite mills by the year 2004 and 28 percent of the installed capacity of the spindleage, were lying idle.
The yarn production in the Indian textile industry is almost entirely produced from the organised mill sector. The production of spun yarn has been steadily increasing in tandem with the increase in spinning capacity. During the year 1993-94, the cotton spun yarn production, which was around 80 percent of the total spun yarn production declined in the recent years and was 69 percent of the total spun yarn production during the year 2003-04 and the remaining 31 percent was in the form of blended and 100 percent non-cotton yarn. The trend in the cotton yarn production has always been with the trend in the cotton crop production. In case of 100 percent non-cotton yarn production, there has been an increasing trend in production, which was 7 percent of the total production increased to 11 percent of the total yarn production in 2003-04.
Production of cloth is primarily from the decentralised sectors. Five segments of the textile industry, namely, mills, powerlooms, handlooms, hosiery and khadi produce cloth. The cloth production by the mil sector has declined from 7 percent in 1993-94 to 3 percent in 2003-04 and that of the decentralised sectors consisting of hosiery and powerloom sectors has increased from 13 and 57 percent in 1993-94 to 18 and 64 percent respectively in 2003-04. The decentralized sectors (all four) together contribute about 97 percent of the total cloth production leaving only 3 percent of the total that is contributed by the mill sector.
Textile and clothing is always the single largest foreign exchange earning source for the country accounting for 21 percent of the country's total export earnings. The cotton textiles have always been a significant source accounting for 27 percent of the total textiles and clothing exports in 2003-04. The garments account for 46 percent of the total textile and clothing exports. Imports of all kinds of fibres - cotton, wool, MMF, silk and jute, yarns and fabrics of all fibres are on the increase. In case of fibre 38 percent, in yarn 66 percent, in fabrics, 220 percent, in made-ups 44 percent, in garments 79 percent increase in imports in value terms during the last 5 years ending 2003-04.
.Benchmarking, HRD, best management practices, quality certifications have only recently started gaining importance in the textile industry. But these are limited to only the professionally managed companies.
.With the growth of RMG units in the country the demand for made to order fabrics often in smaller lots which is best suited for production in the decentralised sectors, the powerloom (200-250 meters per 8 hrs shift)and handloom sectors (around 5 mtrs per 8 hrs shift)
.The Indian textile industry as a whole is plagued with the problem of excess capacity with the presence of large number of players in each sector none of whom is large enough to stimulate demand. For example, the excess capacity in fabric production can be seen from the gap between the Per capita availability around 31 sq.meters of cloth and the per capita consumption of 20 metres of cloth. This is the trend during the period of more than a decade.
.The imports of fibres, yarn and cloth in to India are on the increase.
.There has been significant investments observed across the supply chain of the textile industry over a period of five years
.Due to globalisation the industry has shown some signs building competitiveness not only in terms of price but also in terms of quality. This can be gauged from the reports that some of the global retail giants are beginning to source Indian fabrics
.Prices:
.Prices of raw cotton are on the increase. The WAV price increased by around 18% during the five year period 1999-2004
.The prices of man-made fibres were also on the increase. The average prices of Viscose Staple Fibre, Polyester Staple Fibre and Acrylic Staple Fibre increased by 16%, 59%, and 40% respectively during the period 1999-04.
.The WAV prices of cotton hank, cone and hosiery yarn increased by 42%, 19% and 34% during the period 1999-2004. However, the prices Filament yarn were on the decline by 12%, 15% and 7% in case of POY, NFY and VSY respectively during the same period.
.The mill made cotton and blended cloth increased by 6% and 5% respectively during the period 1999-04 but the of the synthetic cloth declined by 8%
.The price of powerloom grey cotton cloth and synthetic cloth increased by 8% and 23% respectively and the blended cloth remained the same during the period 1999-04.
Clothing Industry
The clothing industry is extremely fragmented with an estimated 27000 domestic producers, 50000 fabricators (job contractors) and around 1000 manufacturer exporters. The fabricators are dominating the clothing industry with an estimated capacity of 1.5 mn machines. The clothing industry is mainly oriented towards men's wear. The branded garments especially in men's wear has a stronghold in the domestic market with major players such as Madura Garments, Arvind, Raymond and other players such as Zodiac, Wills, Life Style, Provogue, Bombay Dyeing and Levis. Garment retail sector is increasingly becoming competitive. With globalisation aided by WTO agreements on increased market access, the number of international brands is on the increase. The emerging trend is that the brands are becoming paramount importance and companies that build brands successfully are gaining advantages in the market place. As customers get more knowledgeable, product differentiation is becoming more difficult. Building regional markets across the country (not just concentrate on metros) through franchise programs and distributorship arrangements taking place.
The important apparel production and exporting centers in India are New Delhi, Mumbai, Tirupur, Chennai, Bangalore, Ludhiana & Jaipur.
Emerging trends in Clothing Industry
.Indian garment producers are now installing new technology not only for production but also for design, communication and integration of the entire supply chain.
.Branded garments are beginning to occupy Indian retailers shelves. The trend is the combination of exclusive brand stores and multi-brand outlets.
.Technological transfer is beginning to taking place at a higher speed after de-reservation of garment sector.
.Information Technology takes a crucial role in Apparel manufacturing. Global partners in the clothing supply chain are exchanging information electronically.
.Mass customisation and digital printing for meeting unpredictable demand levels, for luxury goods, uncertain customer wants and for heterogeneous demand.
.Eco-Parameters and Eco-Labeling are gaining importance.
With globalisation of apparel production and trade the supply chain has become multi-faceted and multi layered. Some of the tips to cope with the globalisation:
.The apparel marketer will have to create their own niche instead of "me too" or follow the leader strategy. Should not panic but strategise
.Keep the options open whether to market based on your brand name or supply to established brand or to a retailer brand. Be open as a source for outsourcing
.In marketing, the quality is taken for granted. Gone are the days there is a price quality match and so on. Now the other non-price issues are taking the lead like brand quality of the product and so on.
.Cluster approach will take care of the Supply chain management and its associated benefits like reduced lead time, cost minimisation and quality improvements and so-on
.When supplying to big retail chains like, Wall Mart, Marks & Spencer, Tommy Hilfiger they would need garments in huge volumes. One should have a back up of quality textile supplies (SCM concept)
.China experience: They kept their growth in apparel exports by sourcing quality textiles from all over the world and by having established strong Garment mfg industry and through JV of leading garment operators all over the world, they could tap the world market. Thus the success due to outsourcing and JV strategy.
.In international market also big players and small players as in domestic market are emerging
.Big players like big brands and branded retail chains will need large volumes of single type of garments of different sizes. (e.g. men's shirts with single pocket and two sleeves and Trousers with two pleats are standard design an can be manufactured in large volumes. But small players in retail will need small runs/volumes need small volume but variety. Here the small RMG units can cater. Besides children and ladies garments are varietals in nature in terms of design and styling and in small volume for a given design here the SME RMG units can play a role.
.Focus on lesser-known centres or the non-metro places to market the garments like interior places in abroad.
Comments